


When Neither of You Know How to Fall in Love

by Diamondisbackbitch



Series: Marvel Fluff Works [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk (Comics), Thor (Comics), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Bruce Banner Feels, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Thor/Bruce fluff, fairytale AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 06:32:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18773185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diamondisbackbitch/pseuds/Diamondisbackbitch
Summary: A Bruce/Thor Beauty and the Beast au bc we need more fluff of them two





	When Neither of You Know How to Fall in Love

**Author's Note:**

> yes, I do recognize the missed opportunity with not making Bruce The Beast, but I like the Belle character being a nerd and the Beast character being an awkward dork who loves roses and doesn't know how to express his emotions and I felt like it fit better this way.

A castle of roses.

It was strange to see it in person, having only heard about it in hushed whispers from villagers. It was beautiful. Not dark and scary as they'd described, simply an old castle with a meticulously arranged garden out front. No wonder The Prince had been so enraged upon a stolen rose. Not that anything really made it okay to insist that someone come and serve as his prisoner for a flower, but it was understandable from the state of the gardens. Seems he was quite passionate.

The Prince. Bruce glanced around as he stepped through the broken gates of the castle. In the town, he was known as The Beast, but none would dare say such a name in more than a whisper. Who would call their own ruler a monster? No matter how little power they held.

The question on Bruce's mind remained as to where this isolated monarch was. Admittedly he wasn't looking forward to taking the fall for the mistakes of another, but it wasn't like he had much of a life back in the village anyway so if this guy was going to kill him could he please get on with it?

"You're not the man that was here the other day," An oddly feminine voice stated from behind him. 

Bruce turned, confused and only more so as he found himself face to face with a suit of silver armor. The face plate raised to reveal and an equally silver face that looked like one belonging to one of the statues they put up int the square to inspire women to fight in armies alongside their husbands. "What-who are you?"

"Valkyrie." She stated simply, shoving her hand out for him to shake. "Prince asked me to show you to your rooms when you got here, but you're not the right man. I was there when he stole Prince's property and you're not him."

Bruce shrugged. "The Prince just said someone had to be his prisoner, didn't say it had to be the guy that did it. I'm here taking his place."

"Why on Earth would you do that? It's not your fault. You can go home, send the villain himself and let him serve out the sentence."

"That 'villain' happens to be my dad. Besides, I'm the one who asked for a rose in the first place so it's partially my fault anyway. He was just trying to bring me something nice." Bruce huffed, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "I'm here, okay? And I'm ready to pay for what my dad did here."

Valkyrie shrugged. "Alright then, follow me. The dining hall is over there. Through that hallway is the ballroom and upstairs in the East Wing is where you'll be staying. It has a library and a sitting room that are also free for you to use. The only rule is don't break anything and don't go up the red staircase. That's The Prince's rooms and he doesn't like people going up there. As in, might kill you for it doesn't like, not just a minor scolding doesn't like. Got it?" She didn't wait for an answer before leading him up a staircase opposite the red one. "Here's your room. There's plenty of clothes so you can dig through it and find something that fits if you like or just sit down and wait."

"Wait for what?" Bruce frowned, looking around at the meticulously cleaned halls. How much did the cleaners get paid to do all of this? There had to be at least a small army of them. It looked like dust was scared even to be on the premises.

Valkyrie shrugged again. "Who knows. Whatever you're here for I guess. Your dad wasn't the first person to steal a rose, you know. And yet you're the first visitor we've had in a hundred years." And with that, she turned and left. Leaving Bruce with his thoughts and a dust-less room.

Great.

X X X X X X X X X X

Two weeks went by without him ever even seeing The Prince. He spent most of his time in the library reading, though he did spend some time getting to know the staff of this strange place. All enchanted one way or another like the Prince had been. No one would talk about who did it or why, but it didn't take Bruce long to take it all in stride. Valkyrie, a suit of armor, seemed to be mostly in charge, followed by a motherly teapot that would only purse her lips when asked for a name so her referred to her as 'Ma'am' and didn't push the issue. The staff was mostly just bored, which explained the cleanliness of the castle but not the absence of The Prince. Somehow, without even asking, Bruce sensed that this was normal for him to disappear into the West Wing and not come out for weeks or months on end. The garden remained immaculate as well. Even without any visible tending and the staff never going out to do it themselves.

Overall, it wasn't terrible. He got to read as much as he liked and he was far away from the villagers who would berate him for focusing on his studies instead of hunting or trying to becoming a knight. Still, t wasn't much of a life as it was. He found himself just as bored and listless as the others. Wandering the halls and cleaning any speck of dust as soon as it appeared.

It shouldn't have been as surprising as it was when he found himself in the West Wing.

He swore he was simply sweeping the stairs and casually wandering with his rag when he looked down and saw red. Red stairs underneath his feet. Fuck.

It was more his fault that he kept walking after that. The place was covered in a foot of dust and cobwebs and The Prince was nowhere to be seen, so why couldn't he do a bit of cleaning? He was bored, dammit!

"You shouldn't be here," A deep voice snarled from the darkness, forcing Bruce out of his trance.

"Who-" Bruce snapped around, holding his broom out as if it was a weapon. "I'm sorry, I was just cleaning. I didn't mean to go anywhere I shouldn't have."

"Kind of a hard to miss the red staircase. Besides, the dust alone should've told you that this is somewhere you're forbidden from entering. Don't you pay attention to anything?" The Prince stepped forward, revealing a blond lion-like mane of hair, fangs, and cold blue eyes. A red cloak hid most of his body but he was intimidating as he was. Bruce couldn't imagine what the rest of him might look like. He dropped the broom, backing up slowly until he hit the stone wall of the castle.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to, I was just-"

"Shut up!" The Be-prince bellowed, pointing a clawed, wolf-like paw at him. "Go to your chambers. Remain there until you are called upon and if you so much as try to defy me-" He leaned in, snarling under his breath.

Bruce nodded, quickly ducking away from him and back to the East wing of the castle and into his bedroom. If the door had a lock he would've locked it, but that was on the outside, no doubt a thoughtful precaution from his jailor, so he instead leaned against the door, tucking his knees against his chest and trembling softly.

X X X X X X X X X X

"Valkyrie!" Thor snapped, slamming his fist down onto the kitchen table and startling everyone in the area.

Valkyrie peaked her head out from inside the pantry. "Yes, Prince? What can I get for you?" She leaned against the doorframe and looked him over. "I hope you say a haircut because this look is still not working for you. Hundred years or not, you've really let yourself go."

"I thought you told our prisoner not to go into the West Wing? I specifically ordered you to do that as soon as he stepped into the castle!"

"I did," Valkyrie frowned, "Wait, he seriously went up there? I didn't think he seemed the type to push into other people's business."

Thor growled at her. "I want you to punish him. Lock him in his room an don't give him any dinner, I don't care, just make sure he doesn't do it again, got it? If I ever see him up there again I will have both of your heads!"

"Got it," Valkyrie nodded, brushing past him, "I'll just go make sure he's in his room then. Let me know if you need anything else."

Thor gave another growl at her, hating that he could never seem to get to her despite his best efforts. Whatever. As long as she took care of the prisoner then everything was fine.

X X X X X X X X X X X

"Bruce, what the fuck did I tell you? Two rules; don't go up the red staircase and don't break things. As far as I'm aware you only broke one of those, actually, but it was the bad one so Prince is pissed off at you." Valkyrie stormed into Bruce's room and frowned down at him, not even raising an eyebrow at the fact that he was sprawled out on the floor, hugging a pillow to his chest.

Bruce sighed. "I was bored! I didn't mean to go up there anyway, I was just wandering and then suddenly the prince dude was growling at me, what was I supposed to do?"

"Hmmm, maybe, oh I don't know... DON'T GO INTO THE FORBIDDEN PART OF THE CASTLE YOU-" She stopped herself, burying her face into her hands and sighing. "Look, Prince has ordered me to make sure you don't ever go back up there, so you're staying in this room until you've learned your lesson, got it? I'll have someone bring you food when you need it and other than that you can just stay in here until you know what real boredom is. Do you think a few weeks is tough? Try living here for a hundred years. Stay in here until you're grateful for what you have."

"Hey!" Bruce tossed the pillow aside and got up, trying to catch her before she slammed the door behind her. He didn't. "I didn't mean to, it was an accident! Valkyrie please, I swear I'll never even look at that damn staircase, just let me out!" He pounded on the door to no avail. The lock clicked and he could feel his fate sealed into place as he slumped back against the door. Great. Now not only was he stuck in this stupid castle, but he couldn't even leave the room.

At this rate, he was going to go insane.

X X X X X X X X X X X

"He's cute, you know," Valkyrie smirked. "I wondered why you let him stay instead of sending him back because he wasn't the one who stole your roses. I didn't know you were the type to kidnap someone you had a crush on, but here we are."

"Valkyrie, you know as well as I do how to break this curse. The mirror showed him to me, I think he's the one. Or at least a good try, I just... I'm not good at this! I don't want to scare him, so I stayed away and trusted him not to go into my space, but that wasn't good enough! So I found him wandering around the West Wing and now if I don't make him regret it then he'll keep doing it and- I don't want him looking up there. I don't want him knowing my past."

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. "Well, if you're trying to seduce him then maybe start by not being so mean. Just a suggestion, you know. But sure, don't listen to me. What could I possibly know."

"I'm doing what I can here. People don't just fall in love with me in a glance anymore." Thor sighed and turned away from the window, not being able to bare even a slight glimpse of his reflection anymore. He hated being so shallow, but as the years went by he grew more and more monstrous. It was unbearable.

"Do what you can then, he's not going anywhere for a while." Valkyrie pursed her lips. "I'll see you later. I have to check on the others." She didn't, she just didn't want to be around Thor right then. He could be sweet once upon a time, but now he mostly sulked in his rooms and tended to his flowers. Only at night when no humans might be out. not that humans ever came this deep into the forest anyway.

He just didn't like the looks people gave him.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm starting a Marvel fluff series! Send me prompts plz :) There won't be endgame spoilers in this fic, but there might be in other works in this series, so you have been warned


End file.
